Columbus, WI accepts new ordinance!

October 13, 2014 | Bunny Balk

After two separate occasions of petitioning the 5,000 residents of the city of Columbus Wisconsin, the small city has decided to implement the ordinance that would decriminalize the use of cannabis for medical patients that are under the care of their doctor. The acceptance of the ordinance wasn't due to signed petitions. The first petition that was circulated in the middle of winter was handed in late therefore nullifying over thirty signatures leaving a deficit of seven signatures. The second petition was circulated in the summer however was compromised with fictitious names and addresses from an opponent who had sent friends to falsify the petition.

I thought all our efforts were wasted when I received an email from the mayor of Columbus. He was interested in helping and asked to meet me at my home. We discussed the need for cannabis and keeping patients from becoming a criminal. He agreed that most of our budget goes to unreasonable arrests for simple possession. I was able to show him the Wisconsin statute 961.41 (3g) Possession. No person may possess or attempt to possess a controlled substance or a controlled substance analog unless the person obtains the substance or the analog directly from, or pursuant to a valid prescription or order of, a practitioner who is acting in the course of his or her professional practice, or unless the person is otherwise authorized by this chapter to possess the substance or the analog. He decided to implement the State Statute with the ordinance that I proposed.

This is a HUGE win as Columbus will be the first city in Columbia County Wisconsin and the first city in Scott Fitzgerald's (R) district. I am so proud of the members of ASA to help provide education to the community and to be able to say they were part of history.